Robert King Carter's Correspondence and Diary

   A Collection Transcribed
        and Digitized
   by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.


List of Letters | About This Collection

Electronic Text Center , University of Virginia Library


Summary



Letter from Robert Carter to Josiah Burchet, May 13, 1727

     Robert Carter writes to Josiah Burchet, May 13, 1727, to cover a bill of exchange (not present) for fees for 4 passes for ships sailing to the Mediterranean.



Letter from Robert Carter to Josiah Burchet, May 13, 1727


-1 -

[Lancaster County,] Virginia   
May 13th: 1727

Josiah Burchet Esqr.

Sir --

     The Occasion of this is to Enclose to
You a bill of exchange for £5:-:-on Mr. Micajah Perry of Lond [on]
being your fees for four Mediterranean passes, which I have
Issued in the Time of my Administration of this government I am


Sir
Yor: most humble Servt:

per Hopkins
Copy per Woodward

NOTES



Source copy consulted: Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13-1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.

[1] Burchet is presumed to have been an Admiralty official responsible for collecting the fees for passes. See footnote #3.

[2] A bill of exchange is a kind of check or promissory note without interest. It is used primarily in international trade, and is a written order by one person to pay another a specific sum on a specific date sometime in the future. If the bill of exchange is drawn on a bank, it is called a bank draft. If it is drawn on another party, it is called a trade draft. Sometimes a bill of exchange will simply be called a draft, but whereas a draft is always negotiable (transferable by endorsement), this is not necessarily true of a bill of exchange. ( "Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms," 8/22/2005 )

[3] "Mediterranean Passes were provided for English ships by the Admiralty in order to give protection against attack from the Corsairs of the Barbary Coast." This statement is given in describing copies of records of these passes found in ADM/7 in the Public Record Office available for purchase on microfilm.(http://www.microform.co.uk/html/body_african.html, 1/23/03)

[4] Captain James Hopkins commanded the Mary in 1727-1728. He was then working for London merchant Robert Cary. He is mentioned in Carter's diary. ( Adm. 68/194, found in the microfilms of the Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. )

[5] Thomas Woodward commanded the Providence, a ship owned by Captain John Hyde & Company, during a number of voyages to the colony, 1723-1729. ( Survey Report 6800 summarizing Adm. 68/194 and Survey Report 6801 summarizing Adm 68/195, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, and Carter's letter to the firm, September 17, 1723. )


This text, originally posted in 2003, was revised October 18, 2011, to add footnotes, and to strengthen the modern language version text.